When we launched our beta just a few weeks ago, we had nearly one hundred show titles, in addition to so many great clips and movies. It’s been fun to see many of our users get just as excited about archived hits like Arrested Development and Buffy the Vampire Slayer as they are about our current shows like The Office and The Simpsons. Who knew that B.A. Baracus from the A-Team still had so many fans!

Adding great new content to the Hulu service is an endless mission for us, and we’ve been hard at work. In the past few days, we’ve added almost thirty new titles to our content library, from classic action titles like Remington Steele for you Pierce Brosnan fans, to newer shows like Burn Notice, The Starter Wife, and Ghost Hunters.

And if you’re into reality TV, check out Dr. 90201 and Kitchen Nightmares, as well as the recently added Phenomenon, The Real Housewives of Orange County, Dr. Steve-O and more. We’ve got your pick of shows right at your fingertips, still all for free.

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I have to say Hulu was worth the wait. I love the service. Been trying to get in the beta after seen a few embedded feeds with the proper full screen and info settings from hulu.com, instead of the partners that do not allow full screen.

There is just one thing I can see that seems lacking in the system. A Media Center Edition enabled page or plugin. I am currently using Hulu on an MCE Internet Explorer browser plugin and it works, just not very user friendly to navigate with the MCE remote control.

MCE seems to be a natural evolution to this service so people can enjoy the on demand aspect back on their TV with direct connect or MCE extenders. Sure Tivo is fine and DVRs are even better. But this blows both out of the water and even off the planet for that matter.

The concept is wonderful, the service is beyond exceptional in quality and speed, and even the advertising is acceptable. (Save for seeing the SAME ad at all the breaks which can get old by the 3rd ad… JUST IMHO. I would prefer an Ad pool to seeing the same one over and over…)

Anyways. If you guys do make a page for MCE I would recommend the http://www.hulu.com/browse/popular/tv page as its prob the easiest to modify to be explored with a remote… Visually that is.

I canceled cable. This is much better – on demand, less commercials, etc… But one thing I would really like is a place I could check for release dates of new material. I can deal with waiting for the 13th episode of Buffy – as long as I know when it will be here.

Great that you launched Hulu and pulled your content from iTunes but shouldn’t that ADD functionality/service offering? Big fan of 30 Rock but not in a position to watch this when it is broadcasted and Tivo still means I am tied to my home TV. Season 1, I bought the package on iTunes which was great; downloaded the episodes and able to watch it on planes, in the hotel room, etc. Where is this functionality on Hulu?! I am more than willing to pay the $35 – why wouldn’t you take my money and offer this service?! Totally JV.

Hulu’s archive is impressive but is there any way to influence the selection of new programs from your partner sites?

Can a news feed be added from NBC, or additional clips from National Geographic? Can the major current events of the world be archived?

Can the films you select include movies which are teachable. “Remember the Titans” is a powerful true story of racism and brotherhood, great gains at great costs. “Jaws” is more than Spielberg’s first blockbuster, it is a textbook of how to build horror and suspense. “Little Miss Sunshine” is actually another re-telling of Dorothy in OZ, just like “Tin Man.” The addition of just these three movies to Hulu would be half a semester worth of films for a secondary English film study class.

Many teachers have computers in their classrooms and can easily hook them into LCD projectors for whole class viewing. Hulu can reach into the classrooms across this country and deliver to teachers the valuable messages great films present.

I have several other questions but these two can start an interesting discussion….
Ben

I love the shows, but the site isnt as intuitive as it could be. Can you make it simple to navigate to the home page from different viewing formstas- especially the pop out feature…how do I get back in without redirectinng my browser ?

I love the site and have already found a few favorites in the content department. My question is about updating recent episodes. I love The Simpsons and I was excited to see new episodes on your site when I first logged in. I haven’t seen any new episode though after a few weeks. What is the planned content scheme? Is it patchwork, picking up an episode here or there… or is it long term recurring episodes, so I know I can always watch the latest episode a week after it airs or something? Keep up the great work! (I have recently seen a little choppiness in Firefox 3 beta w/ firebug installed… FYI)

I’ve got to admit, what y’all have done here is pretty amazing. My friends and I are Trekkies, Eureka, Scrubs and Heroes fanatics. Not a week goes by where one of us doesn’t ask the other if we’ve seen a show that we bought off of iTunes are employed some other tactic to acquire. Since the major networks have been posting their content online, it seems that we only resort to piracy when the show we want is unattainable in downloadable form. Where I have most of Heroes Season One saved on my computer, Season 2 I’ve watched totally on-line. I’d much rather watch it on my computer than on broadcast television, and streaming it is totally acceptable if it’s readily available. My only request (other than more content… become google of TV) would be to make a Hulu Client for Media Center. Make Hulu in such a way that it can replace Cable outright. Do it for Media Center because people will start using it if you make it as well as you made the web client.

I’ve received my invitation and have just begun exploring the site. I am very impressed with what I have seen so far. This is wonderful and it’s just in Beta!! I would like to see The Pretender and JAG added to your content. Thanks for all your hard work!!

Guys I can understand (to a certain extent) your position against the iTunes Store but let’s face easy business reality: What do you provide? Ok your content. Fine. But can you provide a similar user experience, i.e. easy browsing, movies on the go, etc.? And another thing: yet another account to manage. I am sure that people will strongly reconsider IF the series they are watching is really that essential for them. Especially when you are going to raise the prices – which is hopefully your argument for switching as it is the only (semi-)sensible argument.

It seems that though greed is not new to you, you are lacking understanding of basic market principles. Let’s wait until the market cleans itself.

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!! I really want to watch Law & Order: CI and SVU episodes and really want to watch all of this stuff on my iPod. I love watching shows when I’m on my treadmill and it doesn’t hold my laptop too well. :(

I like the formatting and the selection but it’s not well organized. Doing something alphabetical and/or by genre would be good. Now, I’m going to try to access from my PS3- hopefully that works…we’ll see!

Thanks but PLEASE try to do something for us iPod geeks who’ve been left out in the cold! Brrrrrrrrrr!!!

You know what would make Hulu ever better? If you would give out the beta passwords in a more timely fashion. I realize I’m no captain of industry, but I am the guy who will test the functionality of the thing more than just about anyone else on the web.

So far I love the intial offering of content.I just wish there was some way to view a playlist.Seems really buggy right now.Can only save certain shows to a playlist and having to click for each episode seems counterproductive to having a playlist.It would be nice to see different aspect ratios as well as I have a dual monitor set up.So in a nutshell, I want to view a playlist that goes to the next video without interaction and I want to see it full screen on 2 monitors.Thanks for reading.

I am so elated to have been invited to test this site.
It is amazing to me to be able to watch some of my favorite shows of the past Night Gallery,Alfred Hitchcock, Picket Fences, The Pretender, and ones I never got to watch, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere. Thank-you Hulu! You have made this tv viewer of more than 45 years a very happy person!
Please continue the so far superb job.

Awesome! Just got my invite and I am happy to say I watched on my 42″ LCD(pc connected to it, use wireless mouse as remote) all NBC and Fox shows on Hulu in full screen! At first it was skipping, but that lasted under a minute! I loved watching the Nissan commercial and think highly of them, as well as Fox and NBC! They are pioneering the future of Internet TV and allowing us consumers to stick it to the cable companies who have been doing such to us for years!

Too bad I still have to go to Joox, Movies6.net, alluc.org and alike to watch Disney, Viacom and Sony content. Oh well their loss for now!

Cheers to NBC and Fox and all and any advertisers who are on your bandwagon!

Of course the cable companies will stick it back to us as they implement bill by the byte pricing, but Im enjoying it before they start doing such.

I’m not too sure if it’s my Comcast HSI issues or what but I’ve noticed that some of the videos are clipping. When I tried out the embed function for a clip on my blog, I didn’t see it. Seems to only happen when I’m actually on Hulu.

Just to be safe, I’ll double check to see if we’re (still) having trouble with the HSI.

I would love this site if i good be invited, please send out more invites to the many of us waiting. My favorite show on here is the office and it was nice that it was included in one of the blog entries

You guys should have a way to check how many people are ahead of those waiting, and how many people you invite every day should be known to us as well. How long is the normal wait? By the time I get my invite I may not even care, if I have to wait three months, like that one guy said.

I entered another beta site and I waited for three weeks, with the option of seeing how many people were ahead of me in line.

Hey and weel done getting the site up & running.I have a problem.Every time i press play i get this “Unfortunately this video is not available in your country or region.we apoligize for the inconvenience”What is this all about.Thanks in advance for your help!

I have been granted access – but can not view any of the videos … Videos are not avaialble in your area … that being Canada.

So when will you correct this problem. Looking forward to it. Then again – if there is content that I can view – how can I sort it and pick from what is available – rather than just randomly pickign something.

I’ve got a little question. I’m from Germany and i have not been able to watch any show on Hulu. Do anybody know the release date of european servers? Or do anybody know how to watch content from US-servers on Hulu from europe?

A novel idea, and unique in what/how you can offer content. Re a bit of tech, will it be possible to double click on the screen image to render it full screen? A big plus. Secondly, your initail offering, Hill St. Blues has only mono audio…… will offerings normally be in stereo?

Clean format, easy navigation, the basics never change. This is a great site and I click on it to see what real TV use to be. I love what I see do far. We need to take it back and make people enjoy good TV again. Cable is a rip off. Take care of the user, give them quality and keep cost low. It’s a mind set that’s missing in this country. People will come to the site, just don’t take advantage of them. Keep it clean and simple. Great!

Me too. I want in. Like Joe I use other content options, like joost, other than cable. I want to beta the hulu site. How do I get my invite? I have submitted to be a beta tester and eagerly check my email often to see if I have received it. Hulu…let me in.

Im waiting for my invite and just tried out the Hill St. Blues episode above. I notice I can not go full screen.

I no longer subscribe to cable as I use Joost, Joox, Tuduo.com (Chinese youtube) and others to watch my favorite TV shows and what not. I have my PC connected to my 42″ LCD TV and I use a hand held mouse for a remote. I say this because with this set up I have replicated the TV experience and the sites mentioned above all allow me to watch what I want in full screen!

Did I miss something and Hulu does allow me to watch content in full screen? I hope I did miss that, as I prefer to watch content where the producers are getting residuals!

I love watching Hulu profiles on other sites, but I am still watiing for my invitation. I have been waiting for over three months. The press is great about this site but it will die soon if it doesnt open to the public or atleast send out many many more invites.

I want to be a fan of Hulu SO BAD but not getting a invitation and checking my email and the the site regularly to see if I can become a member is slowly growing old.

I am starting to watch these great titles else where online. Step it up HULU before you become a fad before your even open to the public!

I really like the site, and the selection of shows is nice, for a program still in beta.

I’m not certain what kind of revenu sream is being planned for the site, and I’m certain there will be ads of some sort, but please, please keep the high-bandwidth, flash ads away, or at least to a minimum. They slow things down drastically, and quite often are distracting from the real content of the site.

That said, I’m looking forward to testing the site out, if I can ever get the videos to play. I’m in the US, but still get a message saying that they are not available in my country or region. Maybe it’s a temporary thing…

I’m glad you realize what’s most important; if you don’t have the content, it doesn’t matter what cool Web2.0 features you come up with. In my opinion, you should turn the site into almost a reference library of archive materials, even with talk shows and other time-contextual content. Really, for me it’s about quantity; full episodes and complete seasons.

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